Planoorapm co



I. WESTON.

BALL BEARING CASTER. APPLICATION FILED APR.26.'1919.

Patented July 29, 1919.

IBA WESTON, or PUEBLO, COLORADO.

E BALL-BEARING cAs'rEn.

Application filed April 26,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA WEsToN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State ofColorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBall-Bearing Casters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ball bearing casters and particularly tocasters having novel means whereby the balls may travel in raceways ofnovel construction so that the said balls will not bind during theoperation of the said caster, and furthermore provid ing for theoperation of balls of this character without the employment of lubricantwhich would prove disadvantageous when applied to casters on articles offurniture, which casters have to be moved over rugs, carpets and thelike.

A further object of this invention is to produce a caster of thecharacter indicated which can be assembled without the exercise of undueskill since the parts thereof may be produced by the usual castingprocess and said parts can be finished expeditiously and inexpensively,sothat the finished product will have strength and durability, whereasthe supporting ball may rotate without undue friction.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein likecharacters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which7 Figure 1 illustrates a sectional view with the supporting ball inelevation;

Fig. 2 illustrates an underneath plan view of a caster embodying theinvention; and

Fig. 3 illustrates a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1, the ballbeing shown in unbroken lines.

In these drawings 5 denotes a shell or body having an apertured boss 6at its center for the reception of a'bolt or other fastening 7 by whichthe shell will be secured to an article of furniture. The boss extendsinwardly and has a concaved face 8 forming a seat the inverted: cup 9which cup Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 29, 1919.

1919. Serial No. 292,903.

other words, the space between the shell and the cup constitutes a raceway in which the balls travel and the distance between the shell and thecup is determined by the depth of the bushing.

A face plate 12 has threaded recesses 13 and the shell 9 has apertures14 for the screws 15 which are threaded in the recesses in the edge ofthe face plate so that the face plate is held in place thereby. Theinner surface of the face plate is provided with a trough or channel 16which in the operative position of the parts is directly under the edgeof the cup, the space between the bottom of the trough and the edge ofthe cup being equal or approximately equal to the space between the cupand the shell so that the balls may travel under the end of the cup inpassing from the race way between the'shell and the cup to the concavedsurface of the cup.

The face plate has a central aperture 17 which is of slightly lessdiameter than that of the supporting ball 18 and the surface of the faceplate at the aperture is shaped to conform approximately to the contourof the ball so that the ball may freely rotate after the parts areassembled and yet the ball will not drop through the aperture of theface plate.

As shown in Fig. 1., balls are interposed between the supporting ball 18and the cup so that as the supporting ball rotates, the anti frictionballs may travel in any direction and therefore the supporting ball maymove in any direction with equal facility. That is to say, if an articleof furniture is being pushed in one direction, it can be moved in" anydirection at an angle to that in which it was first moved with equal fa}cility since the anti friction balls have a raceway coextensive with theinner surface of the cup and they. may travel in any direction in thecup with the same freedom.

I claim- V 1. In an anti friction caster, a shell having an internalboss with. a. concaved sur face, an inverted cup secured to the said thesaid an being spacedfrom the shell to form a raceway, a face platehavinga channel in its inner surface under the edge of the said cup to form araceway around the edge of the cup, faceplate having a central aperture,a supportlng ball.

in the said aperture and anti friction balls in the race way and in aspace between the supporting ball andtl'ie under surface of the cup, andmeans for SGCllTll-ig the face: plate,

face of the boss, means for securing the cup in place, a face platesecured in the shell, said face plate having an aperture therein, asupporting ball in said aperture, the aperture of the face plate beingof less dianieteithan the supporting ball, anti friction balls in, therace Way between the shell and the inverted cup and in the space betweenthe ball and the said inverted cup, the said face plate having anannular trough in its inner face under the edge of the cup to form arace Way between said cup and said face plate.

IRA WESTON.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eacli,; byaddressing the Commissioner oflllatents,

' Washington, D. 0.

